Decision ID: 002084

In June 2007 the 1992 Fund Executive Committee noted that in April 2007 the Commercial Court in Quimper had rendered a judgement in respect of a claim by the owner of a restaurant for losses in 2000, which had been assessed by the Fund for a lower amount than claimed, which had been paid by the Fund. It was noted that since the owner had purchased the restaurant in June 1999, the Fund had not used the business data for the preceding years when the restaurant was under different ownership and had instead based its assessment on a study undertaken by the French Ministry of Economy of losses suffered generally in the tourism sector as a result of the incident. It was also noted that the claimant had subsequently submitted a claim for losses in 2001, which had been rejected by the Fund, as the claimant had not proved that there had been a sufficient link of causation between the alleged losses and the incident. It was noted that the claimant had taken legal action against the Fund claiming more than had been assessed by the Fund for losses in 2000, as well as losses suffered in 2001. It was noted that the Court had rejected the claim for losses in 2001 on the grounds that the effect of the incident on tourism businesses in 2001 could not be distinguished from other causes. It was noted, however, that the Court had stated that it was not unreasonable to take into account the business data of previous years independently of the business ownership and that it would be artificial to base the assessment on a theoretical study. It was noted that the Court had therefore awarded the claimant a greater amount for the losses in 2000 than had been assessed by the Fund and that the Fund had not appealed against the judgement.

Date: 31.05.2007
Category: Pure economic loss (tourism)
Subject: Losses suffered by hotels, campsites, shops, restaurants and other tourism businesses due to a downturn in visitors